The Cossacks is a 1928 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and directed by George Hill and Clarence Brown.

Ivan, the Ataman, leads a victorious army into their village after a successful military campaign, with Turkish prisoners of war.

Other men in the village mock Lukashka for his pacifism by dressing him in a feminine garment, strap him to a pole, and throw grapes at him.

The sound version of the film featured a theme song entitled "Maryana" which was composed by Ted Pola and Eddie Brandt.

Frances Marion, who wrote the screenplay, became frustrated by the numerous requests and later said she "lost track of what the story was really about and the material seemed frayed on all edges."

The film's stars, John Gilbert and Renée Adorée, complained about the numerous rewrites and felt their roles were "not worthy".

[5][6] Once the troupe arrived in the United States, MGM contracted some of its horsemen to perform as trick riders and as doubles in several of the studio's films in 1927 and 1928, including The Gaucho and The Cossacks.

[5] In its review of The Cossacks in June 1928, the American entertainment trade publication Variety notes the use of these Russian extras and their contributions to enhancing the authentic "look" of the film.

The riders are mostly real Russians who came to this country to work in this picture and stopped en route to Hollywood to pull the most gigantic flop that Madison Square Garden has yet housed.

Variety gave generally high marks to the actors' performances and to the film's overall production values:The flaps, who want to see John Gilbert mauling some dame in hot love scenes may not fancy this M-G-M as much as some of his former releases, but picture lovers and adults will find plenty of entertainment in the beautiful photography, production and story...[Gilbert] gives a splendid performance as does Ernest Torrence who shaved his dome for this one.

Miss Adoree is winsome and sweet as the little reason for it all and Neil Neely ought to boost the tourist travel of school teachers into the land of the Soviet.

[7]Mordaunt Hall, the influential film critic for The New York Times in 1928, viewed Gilbert's performance quite differently.

He is brought to another line of thought after men and women of the Cossack community have dressed him in a woman's apron and thrown grapes in his face...This picture is not particularly stirring, not nearly so much as it might have been.

Had Mr. Gilbert's acting been equal to that of Ernest Torrence [or] René Adorée this film would have gained considerable power.